The History of the Medieval World

From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade

De: Susan Wise Bauer

Narrado por: John Lee

From the schism between Rome and Constantinople to the rise of the T'ang Dynasty, from the birth of Muhammad to the crowning of Charlemagne, this erudite book tells the fascinating, often violent story of kings, generals, and the peoples they ruled. In her earlier work, The History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer wrote of the rise of kingship based on might. But in the years between the fourth and the 12th centuries, rulers had to find new justification for their power, and they turned to divine truth or grace to justify political and military action. Right thus replaces might as the engine of empire. Not just Christianity and Islam but the religions of the Persians and the Germans, and even Buddhism, are pressed into the service of the state. This phenomenon---stretching from the Americas all the way to Japan---changes religion, but it also changes the state.

©2010 Susan Wise Bauer (P)2010 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

“[A] witty and well-written examination of world history...that is rich in detail and intriguing in anecdotal information.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Lacking Visuals

By definition an audiobook has no visual accompaniment, but this particular history had me jumping back and forth between portions of this book and Wikipedia to look up maps and biographic details that probably were part of the print media.
The parts detailing Chinese and Indian potions probably would benefit from print media as well. The names of actors and geography would also be easier to follow with a hard copy to page back in to clarify a lineage, for instance or route of traders and armies and changing of hands of geographical spots over time. I'll
Probably get a relevant library book with maps and thumbnail historical timelines.

Good Overview

First off this book is rather dry, but for a history nerd it's great. It's a pretty good overview of world history from the conversion of Constantine to the year of 1100 c.e. I wish that it did go more in depth into some areas, but that's not what an overview is, I suppose. Overall pretty good performance, I'm a fan of John Lee due to this series, and he's perfect for the subject-material.

Lots of Wars as Empires Rise and Fall

This is great survey of world empire creation and destruction and helps one understand why these ancient events set up the wars and conflicts we have today. It was gut wrenching to learnabout all the evil done by kings and the elites in their quests to be in charge.

too much information

I struggled to get through this book although I learned a great deal it was so disorganized it took me time to figure out where the narrator was going with the information. there were too many distractions and directions. however I did enjoy all of the information that I did gleam from the information. it was an addictive read.

Good overview of the Medieval World

This book does a good job of walking the reader/listener through timelines, peoples and events across medieval world. I enjoyed it and will probably purchase the book to have on hand as a reference.

Clear and authoritative

Pronunciation of Chinese names and places way off the mark. Other than that a good way to get an outline of the medieval world.

Excellent reading

The narrator is spectacularly fluent with many different languages. Tons of new history and ideas.

The First Half of the Medieval World

The sequel to this book is The History of the Renaissance World, which picks up where this one leaves off and stops right before the actual Renaissance. To my mind then, this book is only the first half of the Medieval world story. That irks me, seeing as how the Renaissance story is not actually told in this series. And that's too bad because like the previous volume dealing with the Ancient World, this volume is pretty freaking spectacular in terms of scope and depth. It says something when the worst I can say about a series is that I want more.

As with the Ancient World volume, this book covers every corner of the globe: every continent (except Antarctica), both hemispheres. Every major culture from the Mayans to the Chinese and everything in between are put on the timeline for comparison and contrast in the course of civilization's rise and fall. It's the kind of eye-opening overview presented in a way that really should be taught in schools, where focus is not on any one given civilization, but rather on parallel development between cultures. As different as the cultures are, the underlying patterns of humanity are revealed, showing that, regardless of where on the map we spring up, we're all capable of some amazing and equally devastating things.

Religion and Rulers generate war and murder.

The history of the world from the beginning of known human history during Medieval Times. It covers the whole known world including Africa, India, China, Japan, Korea, Russia, British Islands, Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavian Countries, European Countries, Byzantium Countries, Middle Earth Countries, Greek, Slavic Nations, South American Societies, Mexican Societies, and others.

All the rulers and dates of reign and who took power and how they died. The struggle for power between the religion of the time and the rulers were entwined throughout the time with rulers becoming head of the religion sometimes. The struggle for power generated most often ended in death of people who might inherit the throne or wars to expand the kingdom.

Factual as it gets...

This is an academic treatise written with a great deal of human detail. The world is described at the same time in segments, so you undertand that Constantinople fell the 3rd time when gunpowder was devised in china and civilizations evaporated in meso america. I wanted a big map to go with this epic. so I could follow the where with the what. I'm sure the book has maps and diagrams which would have made this easier to remember. I have to confess that I do not know if Antioch the ancient city is anywhere near Nicea. I did relate to places like Kandahar. The map part was my only negative remark..